Many large companies, corporations, and other business entities operate their businesses through a variety of divisions, divisions, subsidiaries, branches, or business segments of some other type. In some cases, the business segments may be different departments within a relatively small company which offer different products. In other cases, each different business segment may be a large company which is owned or operated by the same conglomerate or parent company. Many other business structures are possible in which multiple business segments report to the same parent business entity.
In these cases, many customers often do business with more than one division of the business. Because the divisions may offer significantly different products or services, it is sometimes difficult to understand the net impact of a customer's patronage on the business as a whole. The quantity of business a customer undertakes with the various divisions of the business may vary. A customer may be a very small or occasional customer of one division while being a major customer of another division. In addition, the profitability and risk of the customer's business activities with various divisions may vary as well. When a division is making business decisions with respect to a customer, it may be desirable to take into account information describing the customer's relationship with the business as a whole rather than just considering the business with that specific division.